Unmanned Cargo Delivery Concept – Chronicle 06

Last week, at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) conference, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it would take part in 3 research projects to collect data about the safety of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations. Among those eagerly awaiting this information are both startups and heavy hitters such as Matternet and Amazon. If approved, BVLOS maneuvers could bring the concept of commercial cargo drone systems one step closer to reality.

Assuming that in the short term Matternet’s and Amazon’s drone systems can safely deliver goods and demonstrate capacity for autonomous last mile delivery solutions via intelligent and adaptable route shifting, the next major hurdle to overcome would be payload restrictions. Current payload capacity for cargo drone operations varies from 2.2 lb (1 kg ) (Matternet) to 5 lb (2.27 kg) (Amazon) and 500 lb (226.8 kg) (MMIST’s CQ10B Snowgoose BRAVO) at its maximum, which is still only 0.004 – 0.8 % of a 20 foot container’s existing 62,170 lb (28,200 kg) payload capacity. Nonetheless, with the high interest and large amount of money being poured into the development of drone delivery technology, combined with a potential internal rate of return on UAV investments as high as 50%, it is likely only a matter of time before drones become bigger and better at delivering larger goods and cargo.